Claimer: My Blog, My POV

Occasionally, I will mention my job, my public service activities, and other aspects of my life to offer my readers a better perspective on where I'm coming from. But to be clear:

"The views that I express represent my own opinions, based on my own education and experience, not the opinions of any other entity, party, or group to which I belong. I give these opinions in my individual capacity, as a private citizen, and as someone who gives a good gosh darn about his community, his country, and the truth."

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Monday, May 10, 2010

Young Smarty-Pants Shifting Back to Cities; More South Dakota Demographics

Stats for breakfast: The Brookings Institution offers The State of Metropolitan America, a report on changes in American demographics over the past decade. The finding getting the most press coverage is that "white flight" continues, but in reverse: young up-and-comers are increasingly moving from the suburbs into urban centers, while non-whites, the poor, and the elderly are making up greater percentages of suburban populations.

Also included for your enjoyment: a really nifty interactive map where you can see how South Dakota fits into the population picture. We are one of six states with no metro areas in the top 100 (Modesto, CA, is #100, with 510,000). 57% of Americans live in metro areas with larger populations than our entire state (but in Sarah Palin's world, those 57% aren't real Americans).

Other interesting demographic facts:

As mentioned here earlier, South Dakota has the second-lowest percentage of foreign-born immigrants in the country, just 1.9%. We also have one of the lowest rates of increase of immigrant population, less than half the national rate of increase. South Dakota just isn't as attractive to foreigners as other exotic locales... like Minnesota, North Dakota, and Idaho.

Percentage of South Dakota's immigrant population born in Mexico: 12.7%. (U.S.: 30.1%)

Percentage of South Dakota's immigrant population born in the rest of Latin America: 16.1%. (U.S.: 23.0%)

Our median household income increased a meager 1.0% since 2000. That actually ranks us 11th: median household income fell in 39 states. Nationwide, median household income fell 4.1% during the Bush II years.

We rank in the middle for poverty, with our 12.5% poverty rate just below the national rate of 13.2%.

Among our foreign-born residents, poverty is just 8.4%, one of the lowest rates among foreign-born folks in the nation.

51.7% of us can get to work in less than 15 minutes. Only Wyoming and North Dakota have a higher percentage of folks with commutes that short.